Our Technology

How can we measure unbiased emotion

Measuring unbiased emotion

We adapted a method known from basic research as well as from psychiatric implications to quantify unbiased emotion relevant to the industry – Startle Reflex Modulation (SRM). The human eye blink reflex, which occurs as a consequence of short and loud acoustic noise, represents a so-called startle reflex. It is meant to protect the eye from potential environmental harm. Usually, a reflex is an automatic process.

However, it has been demonstrated that the very inner and continuously varying emotional state correlates with the strength of this automatic response. The more positive the emotional state, the smaller the response and the more negative the emotional state the larger the response. The neural structures that process raw affective information underlying emotions are deeply subcortical and thus not accessible to language. However, their varying activity levels modulate a startle response, allowing us to quantify raw unbiased emotion.

Via electromyography (EMG) – a physiological method – we measure the strength of muscle contraction, which directly correlates with affective valence related to any foreground (external) stimulus. By using well designed experimental paradigms and by utilising adequate analysing procedures, it is possible to display a person’s raw inner emotional state related to an external stimulus. This method does not depend on any explicit (verbalised) responses, which would bias raw emotions (cognitive pollution).

Startle Reflex Modulation

Quantifies unbiased emotion

Eye Tracking

Allows us to record what draws the consumer’s attention

Electroencephalography (EEG)

Reveals additional unbiased emotional components as well as neural even times

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Detects the strength of a person’s automatic association between mental representations of objects (concepts) in memory